Wire-covering machine.



0. P. H'OUBEN.

WIRE COVERING MACHINE. APPLICATION man JAN-29. 191s.

m m R B 1 1 .ou 1T 0 70 %H 7 H I n.\ W pm Mm A T d8 0 m3 a 1 a I I a 3 P m V I B C A 90 0* $0 3 A TTORNE K 0. P. HOUBEN.

WIRE COVERING MACHINE.

APPUCATION, FILED 1AN.29. I916.

Patented Apr." 25, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 11v VEN TOR.

m x u M O H R m P O A T T O 0. P. HOUBEN.

WIRE covEamc MACHINE.

APPLICATION FI LED JAN; 29, l9l6.

1 1 80, 3 99 Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEE 3- 11v VENTOR. OTTO P HouBEN A TTORNEY.

STATES PATENT OFFICE.

B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY, OF

NEW YORK.

VIBE-COVERING- MACHINE.

Application filed January 29, 1916.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, O'r'ro P. Hounnx, a citizen of Germany, residing at Akron, in the county of Summit; and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in vVireCovering iv'lachines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for covering electrical wire with rubber insulation and its principal object is to enable the machine to be put in running condition quickly and without disturbing the setting of the die relatively to the wire guide. As the partially-hardened or stiff rubber in and back of the die has to be extruded before the machine will cover the wire properly in the morning after standing idle over night, it is common practice to remove the die and run some of the rubber out through the opening left thereby, the wireguide remaining in place. The dies are usually adjusted eccentrically to the wire-- guides to compensate for unsymmetrical pressure and flow of the rubber and keep the wire c ntral in its sheath. The removal of the di de..troys the adjusti'nent, and the re setting consumes much time which is saved by my present improvement.

A further object is to provide a multiple machine of the side outlet type in which the pressure of the plastic rubber shall be dis tributed to the several dies with .sutlicient uniformity to enable a battery of them to be simultaneously operated. Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a top plan view, partly in section on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2, showing a multiple apparatus constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 represents a front elevation, partly broken away and in section. Fig. 3 represents an enlarged horizontal section of one of the wire covering unit-s. Fig. 4 represents an elevation of the collar on the rear end of the wireguiding tube. Fig. 5 represents a front elevation of the die structure with the cover-ring removed. F 5 represents a section of the die structure on the line 55* of Fig. 6 represents a longitudinal section showing a 1nodilica tion. Fig. 7 represents a front elevation of the latter. Fig. 8 represents a section on the line 8--8 of Fig. 7.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 75,187.

Referring at first to Figs. 1 to 5, 10 indicates the barrel or cylinder of a tube machine containing the usual feed screw 11. Into the end of said barrel is screwed an elbow-fitting 12 having a passage 13 for the plastic rubber and provided with a jacket 14 for the circulation of steam to keep the rubber soft. To the lower flange of this fitting is-bolted the wire-covering head 15, also provided with a steam jacket 16 in communication with the jacket 14, the said head including a rear casing 17 having part of a dis tributing chamber 18 communicating with the passage 13, a front casing or cap plate 19 carrying the dies, and an intermediate skeleton plate or grid 20 for supporting the wire guides, all bolted together, the steam jacket being extended through these three members so as thoroughly to heat the contents of the head.

The upper walls '21 of the chamber 18 diverge from the mouth of the passage 13 as indicated in Fig. 2 so as considerably to widen said chamber relatively to the size of said passage, both laterally and from front to rear, thus allowing for the proper distribution of the plastic material behind the dies and the grouping of a considerable number of dies in a single head, it being feasible to employ as many as six dies adapted to 0p. crate simultaneously as indicated in the drawings. The provision of the curved passage 13 for changing the direction of travel of the rubber from horizontal to descending vertical assists in the equalization of pressure behind the several dies. and I further provide a deflector bar or, balile 22 at the entrance of the chamber 18 across the mouth of the passage 13 in order to keep the rubber from crowding too much to the left as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2.

Grid 20 has a series of vertical cross bars 23 which act as baffles and are also formed with through passages, in the front ends of which are screwed the conical Wire-guides 2% and in the rear ends of which are screwed the front ends of a series of wire guiding tubes 25. Km i tube has splined to its rear end a collar 36 for the application of a spanner to screw the front end of the tube into and out of its crossbar 23, and a nut 27 is screwed on the end of the tube for forcing Patented Apr. 25, 1916."

28, and into each aperture is screwed a tubular plug or die-holder 29 having the form v the removal and resetting of the 'diately back of the dies through the apertures .30

of a spider, as seenin Figs. 5 and 5 with four arms separated by grooves or channels which form apertures 30 between the plug and the walls of its opening 28 for the extrusion of rubber when the machine is being started. To close these openings when the machine is operated normally, I provide at the outer end of each opening 28 a threaded ring or cover-plate 31.

The die, designated as a whole by the numeral 32, is composed of a centrally apertured base 33 having a fiat rear end which abuts against a retaining plate 34, a die proper 35 seated against a shoulder in said body and adapted to determine the diameter of the rubber cover, and a hollow guide stem 36 forthe covered wire, screwed into the body 33. The die body 33 is formed with a conical outer surface 37 engaged by the conical inner ends of four adjusting screws 38 which occupy threaded apertures in the plug 29 and are symmetrically disposed around and parallel with the central axis of said plug. The relative longitudinal position of these adjusting screws determines the lateral position of the die with reference to the wire-guide 24, and they furnish a means for accurately adjusting the die concentrically or eccentricallly with relation to the wire-guide so as to maintain the wire central in its sheath and compensate for any tendency of the sheath to be come thicker on one side than on the other due to the unsymmetrical pressure of the rubber. 'When once this adjustment of the die is obtained it need not be disturbed When the machine is being started up after it has lain idle and allowed the rubber to partty' set or stifi'en, for, after warming up the machine by means of its steam jacket, and startingthe feed-screw, the rubber immeniay.be extruded by merely removing'the ring 31 without removing or changing the position of the die, and any stifi'ened rubber which remains in the die is extruded through the latter with little or no waste of covered wire. A great saving of time is thus efl'ected over the old method requiring die, and it becomes feasible to cover a number of wires simultaneously in the same machine, because the aggregate time required to get the rubber running properly through all of the dies is comparatively small.

My invention may also be applied to a familiar form of wire-covering machine having radial screws for adjusting the die.

In Figs. 6 to 8 I have shown a single-Wire machine of this type in which 39 is a head or casingcontaining a rubber chamber 40. 41 is the wire-guide, 43 is a die-holder having a separate threaded member 44 containing the die 45, and 46 screws for shifting the die-holder laterally in any direction, there being a supporting shoulder 51 at the-rear of the die-holder. 47 is a retaining ring or plate screwing in a threaded aperture in the outer end of the casing 39 against a shoulder at the bottom of said aperture, and 48 is a centrallyapertured screw-threaded closer or coverplate. The holder 43 and retaining plate 47 are formed with registering apertures 49, 50 symmetrically disposed. about the central axis, for permitting the extrusion of rubber from the space immediately back of the die-holder without disturbing the adjustment of the latter, these openings being closed by the cover-plate 48 during the normal operation of the machine.

claim:

1. In a wire-covering machine, the combination of a wire-guide, a casing having a front wall provided with an aperture in line with said guide, a die having a holder mounted in said aperture and formed With a passage for the extrusion of plastic covering material,-means for opening and closing said passage, and means for laterally adjusting the die relatively to the wire-guide.

In a wire-covering machine,the combination of a wire-guide, a casing having a front wall provided with an aperture in line with said guide, a die-holder mounted are radial adj usting rubber passages disposed means for opening and closing said passages, a die adjustable in said holder, andmeans carried by said holder for effecting the lat eral adjustment of the die in its holder.

3. In a wire-covering machine, the combination of a wire-guide, a casing having an aperture in its wall in line with said guide, a

about its axis,.

die-holder in said aperture provided with a rubber passage, a die laterally adjustable in said holder and having a conical outer surface, a series of adjusting screws dis osed longitudinally in the die-holder and earing against said conical surface, and a threaded ring surroundin said adjusting screws for closing said rub er passage.

4. In a wire-covering machine, the combination of a barrel having a feed screw, an elbow having a passage for changing the direction of flow of the rubber delivered by said feed screw, a wire-covering head hav ing a distributing chamber connected with said passage, and a series of wire covering devices in said head adapted to act simultaneously upon a plurality of Wires.

5. In a wire-covering machine, the combination of a horizontal barrel having a feed screw, an elbow having a passage adapted to direct the output of said barrel vertically downward, and a wire-covering head below said elbow having a distributing chamber connected with said passage, and provided with a. series of wire-covering devices for operating simultaneously upon a plurality of wires, said devices being disposed horizontally in said head with their axes below and transverse to the axis of said barrel and 10 feed screw.

In testimony wheredf I have hereunto set my hand this 24th da of January, 1916.

0 TO P. HOUBEN. 

